The Good, The Bad, and The Silent

Today’s story is a good news/bad news sort of story. I like to think the ‘good’ part outweighs the bad in the long run, and gives us hope for humanity. I don’t know … what do you think?

The bad …

It was just after 5:00 a.m. last Saturday morning, and people were arriving for Fajr, early morning prayer services, at the at the Dar Al Farooq Islamic Center in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota. About 20 people had entered the mosque when a fire bomb was hurled through the window, shattering windows and causing extensive damage. Fortunately, nobody was injured, but certainly the intent of the criminal was to destroy, maim, and even kill.

The center had been receiving threatening phone calls for some time, according to Mohamed Omar, Executive Director for the mosque. “… people talking about us, telling us, accusing us that we shouldn’t be here, that we are like a burden to the community or we are like harming it. We’ve had some threats and comments. People walk to our door, bang on our door and had foul language. With the country’s climate and rhetoric going on, we feel [we’re] in the middle of the tension.” Omar cited hateful comments on Facebook including some that read, “Islam needs to be eliminated like the black plague,” or “maybe they will start leaving now. Keep up the good work.”

The FBI is investigating the bombing and says it was a form of a pipe bomb, but with “more sophistication” than expected. There were no security cameras at the mosque, as the congregation is made up mostly of Somali immigrants and does not have extra funds for such things. The FBI also said in a statement that they want to “assure the community that this investigation is our top priority and we continue to work to determine who carried out this crime and why.” Let us hope so.

The good …

The good news in all of this is the community and the support they have shown. According to a post by Robert Reich …

“Members of a local Catholic church delivered over 200 notes like the one below. On Sunday, a steady stream of people stopped by to leave flowers and express their sympathy. Erik Stoltenberg brought along his 4-year-old daughter, telling the Twin Cities Pioneer Press, “I explained to her that people attend things that are like our church but different and that some people sometimes don’t like other people for bad reasons and that it was important for us to come and show our support as a community.” People have also donated over $50,000 to a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for repairs.”

The GoFundMe account has thus far raised $67,275 in just two days, and has been contributed to by 1,629 donors!

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton condemned the act and ‘called a spade a bloody shovel’ when he called it an act of terrorism. “What a terrible, dastardly, cowardly terrible act this was that was committed yesterday. As someone said in the meeting, if the roles were reversed, it would be called a terrorist attack. And that’s what it is, an act of terrorism. That action is despicable and hateful, but it does not represent who Minnesota is. It does not represent the vast majority of the people who live in this fantastic state.”

The silent …

The only response to this terrorist act from the entire Trump administration came from the Department of Homeland Security in a canned statement:

“Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke is aware of the explosion today at a mosque in Bloomington, Minn. We are in close contact with federal, state and local authorities and local community leaders as the investigation into this matter continues. The Department of Homeland Security fully supports the rights of all to freely and safely worship the faith of their choosing and we vigorously condemn such attacks on any religious institution. We are thankful there were no injuries, but that does not diminish the serious nature of this act.”

Not so much as a tweet from Donald Trump, nor any of his mouthpieces. No condemnation. No words of empathy or support. Nothing.

Filosofa’s take …

I commend and am proud of the good people in the community, of the 1,629 people who have contributed their hard-earned cash to help repair the mosque; of the people who showed up with flowers, checks, and those who simply brought a hug and a kind word. These, folks, are the people who define this nation, who give us hope that we might yet overcome the trash that currently resides in the White House and the trash … white supremacist trash … who have the unmitigated gall to believe they have a right to condemn people simply because of their religion or ethnicity. White supremacy? HAH … white trash is a better description. Donald Trump has yet to comment on the bombing, but can you imagine the outrage he would be spewing if a person of Middle-Eastern ethnicity had done this to a white, Christian church? His silence speaks volumes.

The reason Donald Trump won’t speak out in strong terms is his belief in a them and us society very strongly. He knows what happened is dastardly but he believes it is justified .
Them and us is a human trait and all religions should speak out against it the problem they have is that each one is a self-contained group with its own values and beliefs that separate it from the rest of humanity.
Jesus Christ had to make it clear to the Jews they were not special by declaring the parable of the Good Samaritan even though he was a Jew himself.

You are so right about the ‘them’ and ‘us’ mentality. But the thing is, the president is to represent ALL … including both them and us. He cannot even legitimately claim that he doesn’t represent them since they are immigrants, for it is his duty to represent and protect everyone living within our borders. He doesn’t seem to have a very clear understanding of his job description, does he? And he has quickly forgotten that he works for us. But then, his followers seem to be okay with that, so …

We must be careful we do not fall into the same trap ourselves in treating Donald supporters as them; it is a human trait of which we are all capable . Remember Mr Trump gained his support with great difficulty and he played the circumstances with great precision alienating many into the them category. Politicians represent their followers, I’ve been listening to them for years in the UK , they always speak about the whole nation when they want support. Mr Trump talks about all Americans and how you are one nation in one breath and then accuses some citizens of being anti-American.

You are right … we must guard against the ‘tribe mentality’, else we lose credibility too. Trump, however, appears to view democrats … ALL democrats … as “the enemy”. And when he speaks of ‘the wonderful people’ he does not mean anybody beyond the 34-36% who still support him. I certainly do not feel anymore as if we are one nation, but rather a nation so deeply divided that a civil war would not surprise me. But I’m a stubborn old woman, and I still wear my shirt that says, “Don’t blame me, I voted for Hillary” out in public! 😉

When Mr Trump uses the term wonderful people he knows very well that many waverers will take to be all inclusive , don’t under estimate his intelligence it got him to the presidency. He also knows that many oppose his ideas and do not believe his philosophy the worship of wealth and progress. If I was American I would have voted for Bernie Sanders.

I might have voted for Sanders … considered it briefly … had he won the primary. But the reality was that Sanders platform was largely unsustainable and he could not possibly have implemented much of what he was proposing. So, I voted for Hillary, and happily so, for she had experience in many levels of governance, had compassion and humanitarianism, and perhaps most importantly, had experience in foreign policy and international relations. As we are seeing today, that is extremely important!

DT is so afraid of losing any of his white supremacist followers you can bet he won’t say anything either. He seemed reluctant one time to even speak out against the KKK. It’s shameful but not to someone who has no shame. —- Suzanne

Ah, but his advisor Sebastian Gorka did speak tonight and said the administration believes the attack was a fake attack perpetuated by the left. I would happily take a baseball bat to that smug smirk he had on his face. 😦

This definitely shows that good people outweigh the bad. We must all do our best to reduce our fear and instead join our resolve to stand up in the face of wrong doing and condemn it as the blight on our society that it tries to bully into submission.

I agree with you, but it seems that our well-modulated, sand voices get far less attention than the ugly, loud voices of hate. Even though I just finished writing my “good people” post a while ago, my faith in the final outcome of good vs evil is wavering a bit tonight. Sigh. Perhaps I just need sleep. But I surely thank you for your positive outlook!!! I just need to find where I left mine! 🙂

The ordinary folk of that part of Minneapolis raised The Finger to the filth! Well what are those circle jerks going to do about that????….HA!!
Pity you don’t have a president.
Sorry for you folk
But three cheer for those good people in Minneapolis!!

Yes, and I give high fives to the majority of those people who came out in support. But now tonight, I hear that Trump advisor Sebastian Gorka claims they believe it was a ‘fake’ attack perpetuated by the left. There is no sense, no compassion, no … no … no nothing in our government but hate, greed, ignorance and fear mongering. And now Trump’s remarks about N. Korea tonight, further escalating an already untenable situation. Late this evening, Herb called me and said, as soon as I answered the phone, “In case we get nuked before I talk to you again, I just want you to know I love you”. Damn it, Roger … I don’t want to live like this … I want it to return to some semblance of normalcy. 😥 😥

Oh fake attack….please!! What an anal cavity! Frib! But they are a desperate bunch grasping at any straw!
Is there anyone up there in the ‘S’…delete ‘W’……… hitehouse who does not qualify for a circle jerk?
As for North Korea, they are soul brothers are they not?
Technically, the USA has a very sophisticated anti-missile system. North Korea has just started in the business and are now playing with the Big Boys and Girls (I refer here to the Military, not that crew who slithered in during the 2016 election). Thus the Military will be concentrating mightily on any attempt by North Korea to fire anything in your directions; which will be tough on the North Korean public.
We’re in the posturing, and who thinks they can blow the biggest ‘brazzzzpt’ stage.
But that said these are such unhappy times for the ordinary folk of the USA and I feel so very, very sorry for all of you.
I know from my own experiences during the Age of Thatcher how isolated and bitter someone can feel. There are times when a person has to dig deep into themselves hold onto their beliefs and basically shut off from the outside malevolence. I frequently used to turn off the radio the moment any Thatcher government minster used to come on. It worked, the anger dropped down.
Seek your soft and quite corners Jill and rest there. These fools and folk of no ability will be consigned to the dustbin of history to receive their just desserts of vilification from which there will be no escape.
Thinking of you guys…always
🙏

Thank you for your words, dearest Roger … they mean so much. My soft, quiet corners are now filled with nails and shards of glass … perhaps it is time I clean them out, yes? And I definitely like your letter replacement … I may well start calling it the Shite House myself! 🙂

Soft corners can get like that Jill. Cleaning them out is a good idea, tidy up and tidy out that small corner which is yours alone 😃🙏
(My ‘Patchwork’ and ‘History’ are mine at the present…Well those and military style board games of WWII where I get to kick Nazi butts- bound to annoy some of the really ultra obnoxious Alt Right😼….maybe not quite soft corners, but y’know what I mean)

Though Trump is the personification of an ignorant, greedy politician, and a danger to the world, you are correct that we are seeing the same, only I think on a smaller scale, around the globe. From what I hear, though, Australia is far more stable politically, so take heart! Thanks for reading and commenting! I hope you will drop in again soon!

So much for a President who leads by example. It’s never going to happen is it unless in a negative way like speaking out for white supremacy. I normally have no truck with religion but I’m glad to see in this case some Christians rallied round.How those that speak against Moslems as a whole can call themselves Christians is beyond me and if their churches echo the vile words echoed then they should be closed down.
xxx Massive Hugs xxx

Yes, I agree with you. Although I do not ascribe to the rites and rituals of religion, I respect those who do and take a live and let live attitude. Until … the religionists speak or act as bigots, and then they are in violation of ‘live and let live’. Those churches that preach love, yet act in direct opposition to that concept, deserve zero respect. As for the prez not speaking … tonight, his spokesperson said that they believes the bombing was a fake attack perpetuated by the left. I am incensed. What a bunch of @#$%#$#@%^%^$#%^$!!!!

A great well-balanced piece. It’s very disheartening to think that the barest minimum of effort that the Government chose to exert couldn’t extend any true sense of empathy for this community. As you illustrate: the silence is deafening. The implication is that Trump’s silence encourages such acts of terror and likely is of the mind: “If you’re Muslim in America, you had it coming!” It’s stomach-churningly awful.

But…

As you also say there has been a great outpouring of support and good people in the world as well.

Yes, and then this evening … Trump advisor Sebastian Gorka announces that they believe the attack on the mosque was a ‘fake hate crime’ perpetuated by the left. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Where is the humanity in the current administration? No … never mind … I know the answer. 😥

There have been a lot of stereotypical Online Arguments ending with Hitler/Nazi comparisons. Having said that…It’s not an outrageous or flawed augment when it’s actually true. Fake?! 1) I’m pretty sure it’s not 2) It doesn’t matter. We still condemn acts of terror. Well…we do. Trump and his dark cabal of neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and 1%ers don’t. So…yeah…allow me to echo our sentiment: Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

This furthers my own argument that the nation suffers from a form of collective PTSD; and it is only getting worse. The moment we find some measure of solace in this nightmarish and cruel vision of America we live in…another new outrage seems to emerge almost immediately. This only exacerbates our collective trauma and deepens depression.

I’ll still write about the Bad, and the Ugly…but I think, maybe, once in a while I could go out there and focus on something positive once in a while…at least for my own sake.

Thanks, Dan! Yes, the dark and ugly gets to one after a time. That is why I do my “Jolly Monday” and “Good People Wednesday” posts, to give both myself and my readers a bit of a break, to remind us all that life goes on and that there are still a lot of good people in this world. Hang in, my friend, and try not to let it all get you too far down.

I could write volumes about this kind of intolerance and hatred. Yes, America is much greater than those few who follow white, Christian supremacy. For more info on hate groups I would urge your readers to check out https://www.splcenter.org/ Southern Poverty Law Center. Please allow me to reblog your article.

I would be honoured for you to re-blog my work … any time, please feel free! Yes, I am a frequent visitor to the SPLC site, especially in recent months! They do great work keeping up with hate crimes and I use them for a reference from time to time. Thanks a million for sharing my work!!!

The good part does give us hope – hope that there will be enough people in the end making a statement of peace and acceptance. As for the Trumpet not twittering about it – maybe we should be thankful that he keeps silent. Imagine the mess he would make of it if he said something? Because I think it would be naive to hope for a statement of sympathy or taking a firm position against this type of terrorism. He would probably find a way of saying it was those poor people`s own fault that they were attacked….

Well, turns out you were right. This evening, one of his key advisors said that they believed the attack on the mosque was a fake attack perpetuated by the left. Sigh. Where is the sense? Where is the intellect? Where is the compassion? Where is the bloomin’ humanity?????????